In the Shadow of ‘Big Brother’ : Ukraine: Long under Russia’s thumb, the newly independent state struggles to change its relationship to one of equals.

KIEV, Ukraine —  After hundreds of years as the brunt of Russian jokes and the subject of countless decrees from whatever czar or general secretary was sitting in the Kremlin, Ukrainians are forging a new relationship with Moscow--one of equals, whether Russia likes it or not.

“Russians love to refer to the relations between Russia and Ukraine as the relations of an older brother and a younger brother,” said Anatoly Z. Moskalenko, a prominent Ukrainian historian and journalist. “But in reality, the relationship was like that of a horse and a rider. The rider--Russia--always did everything to prevent the horse--Ukraine--from getting free.”

For more than three centuries, Ukraine was part of the Russian and then Soviet empires. But with the breakup of the Soviet Union late last year, Ukraine became an independent state and its leaders have devoted themselves to making the separation permanent.

“Now this horse and rider have become like Siamese twins,” Moskalenko continued. “The very painful process of dividing Siamese twins is going on.”

Making the split is complicated because the citizens and economies of Ukraine and Russia have been so thoroughly intermingled over the centuries: 12 million of Ukraine’s 52 million residents are Russian; official statistics show that 4 1/2 million Ukrainians live in Russia; and many millions of Russian residents have some Ukrainian ancestry.

The process of establishing new terms for the age-old relationship of two of Europe’s largest countries--both of them nuclear powers--will have repercussions throughout the former Soviet Union and in other parts of the world, as well.

Their divorce settlement has global significance because it involves deciding the fate of nuclear arms, which for decades were aimed at the United States and its allies. It also will affect the division of the Black Sea Fleet, a former Soviet force that is as big as either the navy of Britain or France.

Russian-Ukrainian relations have grown increasingly tense as Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, in an aggressive strategy to break away from traditional roles, repeatedly defies Moscow.

Although Ukraine pledges to be free of nuclear arms by 1994, Kravchuk had refused to abide by Moscow’s plans for disposing of the weapons now on Ukrainian territory. Instead of sending them across the border, he said he wanted to dismantle strategic weapons in Ukraine because he does not trust Russia to destroy them. The two sides did agree in mid-April on the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons to Russia for destruction.

The tactics both sides employ in their battle over the Black Sea Fleet--with its 345 ships, 28 subs, 159 airplanes and 90,000 men--resemble those of a playground feud rather than international diplomacy. The two leaders, Kravchuk and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, take turns making equally outrageous threats, which do not correspond to their expressed goals and accomplish little but to infuriate the other.

The dispute over the fleet was discussed more this week, with both sides agreeing to further negotiations planned for late May in the Russian Black Sea resort of Dagomys.

But neither the politicians nor the citizens of Russia have been prepared for Ukraine’s impertinence.

“Russian officials and average people are having trouble getting used to the fact that Ukraine is no longer part of our country,” said Lev Aksionov, a seasoned reporter who works for the official Russian Information Service.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is a case in point. Only one diplomat has been assigned solely to Ukrainian relations, although Yeltsin says Ukraine is his country’s foreign policy priority.

“If you want to be exact, then we are different, independent states,” Alexander G. Granberg, Yeltsin’s chief official on relations with the former Soviet republics, said in an interview in his luxurious Kremlin office. “But Ukraine will never be like Germany or Japan to us. We are very, very, interconnected--our pasts and presents.”

Ukrainian officials, however, say that Yeltsin’s every move belies his rhetoric about Russia respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“Russia has not shed its imperialistic mentality,” said Vladimir I. Shlyaposhnikov, Kravchuk’s spokesman. “We may have to wait for a new generation (of Russian leaders) before decisions are made according to justice and not Moscow’s dictate.”

In interviews with the Russian press, Kravchuk repeatedly scolds Yeltsin for refusing even to discuss sharing Soviet property abroad with other former Soviet republics.

“I would very much like Russians who are wont to consider Ukraine a part of Russia to change their minds,” Kravchuk said in an interview with the popular, Moscow-based newspaper Argumenty i Fakty. “It is great power chauvinism that hurts our national dignity.”

In a recent television interview, Kravchuk said, “Both Russians and Russian politicians should overcome this psychological barrier and finally realize that they are equal among equal peoples.”

Revamping the relationship is particularly ticklish because Moscow and Kiev have vastly different interpretations of the past.

Ukrainians view themselves as victims of Russian imperialists who enforced their rule with atrocities such as the artificial famine under dictator Josef Stalin. It is estimated to have killed not less than 10% of Ukraine’s population, or 5 million to 7 million people.

Russians, however, consider Ukrainians brother Slavs with whom they have lived in friendship for centuries; they do not understand why a good thing should be discarded.

Ukrainian historians say it is absurd for Russians to call themselves Ukrainians’ older brothers when both peoples trace their origins to Kievan Rus, whose center was Kiev. It was Vladimir I of Kiev who brought Christianity to Rus in AD 988.

“Moscow is half the age of Kiev--how does it end up that Russians are our older brothers?” a sked Vladimir V. Musienko, a history professor at Kiev University. “During the reign of the Russian czars and under the Soviet Union, people in Kiev had to do what Moscow ordered or they were sent to Siberia. And Russians try to call this a brotherly rule.”

Although Ukrainians can claim to be a more ancient people, Ukraine has been part of the Russian Empire or Soviet Union--except for a brief independence after the 1917 Revolution--since 1654. At that time, Kiev feared attacks from the Turks, Crimean Tatars and the Poles. Joining up with Russia, which had a similar language and religion, seemed the safest option.

At first, Kiev was virtually sovereign. But soon the Russian czar made the Ukrainian church subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church, forbade the printing of Ukrainian books and banned Ukrainian schools.

Despite the long years of domination, most Ukrainians have no ethnic antipathy toward Russians, because the common people of the two nations felt united in their suffering under the czars and then the Communists.

“Ukrainians have no special resentment of Russians,” said Ivan Drach, a poet and member of the Ukrainian Parliament. “The only negative feeling is toward the center, Moscow, the center of the empire--that dominated everyone.”

Although all nationalities were theoretically equal in the Soviet state, Russians were more equal than the others. The seats of power in the Kremlin were almost exclusively filled by Russians. Older Ukrainians also still remember being slighted by Stalin after World War II. During the extravagant victory celebration, Stalin lifted his glass and made a famous toast to the “Great Russian People.”

“This had a big influence on the psychology of Russians and Ukrainians,” said Ivan Dziuba, a prominent Ukrainian writer. “The Russians started to believe all the propaganda and thought they really were the greatest people as Stalin said. And we Ukrainians developed an even deeper inferiority complex.”

In the early 1950s, a propaganda drive was launched to show that Russians were first at everything. Russians were acclaimed for inventing the radio, telephone, space rockets and everything imaginable.

This feeling of superiority gave birth to jokes about Khokhly, a derogatory term for Ukrainians. The jokes, which paint Ukrainians as boorish, simple and niggardly, sound especially funny to the Russian ear because they are told in broken Russian with a smattering of Ukrainian words and a heavy, clumsy-sounding Ukrainian accent.

Jokes about Western Ukrainians, who have spent much less time under Moscow’s domination than their eastern brothers and are historically more anti-Russian, stress their distaste for everything Soviet.

One such joke pictures an old Ukrainian man working in his garden when his grandson runs toward him with the news of the day.

“Grandpa, Grandpa, the Russians are in space,” the boy cries.

The grandfather’s face sparkles in delight as he says, “What, all of them?!”

The attitude in the jokes carried through to everyday life. During czarist and then Soviet rule, Russians spread out over the vast territory that was populated by hundreds of ethnic groups; they almost never felt a necessity to learn the local language. But the local population could not complain.

“Russians, not because they are bad, but because they had this dominant position over so many other nationalities, developed the feeling that they were the boss no matter where they went,” Dziuba added.

Ironically, Russians felt superior, although the living standard was usually higher in Ukraine. “The mentality is like the British and other nations that had colonies,” Drach observed. “Russians felt like they were the bosses, even if they lived worse than Ukrainians.”

Among Russians in Ukraine, this mind-set is changing. Even Russians voted overwhelmingly for Ukrainian independence during a November referendum, and more Russians than ever are signing up for Ukrainian language classes.

“We’re Russians who live in Kiev, and we know that Moscow always pursued a colonial policy toward Ukraine,” Irina G. Kavalchuk, a 49-year-old physicist, said as she stood with her daughter and sister on a busy Kiev street. “Ukrainian independence is good, because at last Ukrainian leaders can look after the interests of their people.”

By saying no to Moscow, Ukrainian leaders are helping their people shake off their deep-seated inferiority complex.

“After centuries of domination by another people, it’s easy to forget who you are, but our national awareness is growing,” said Olga Rutkovskaya, 54, director of a folk art center. “We were always considered the edge of Russia--even our name, Ukraine, means on the edge. But we won’t put up with this any more. We want to be completely independent and never again listen to an order from Moscow.”

Neighbors at Odds

As Ukraine adjusts to independence, it is struggling to be treated as an equal by Russia. The relationship has grown increasingly tense between Kiev an Moscow. Background: Ukraine was part of the Russian, then Soviet empires, for more than three centuries. Ukraine became an independent state with the breakup of the Soviet Union. The split is complicated because Ukraine and Russia have been so thoroughly intermingled over the centuries. But they have vastly different interpretations of their pasts. Global significance: The fate of the former Soviet Union’s nuclear arms is at stake as is the final control of one of the world’s larger navies.